The invention described herein relates to a method and apparatus for scheduling and broadcasting multimedia information over a data network, and especially to a method and apparatus which provides for the selective transmission of multimedia information to particular members of an audience according to demographic information.
Radio and television are two popular forms of media for providing information or programming to the public. Broadcasts of multimedia information may be made over the airwaves or over a data network, such as cable, with the goal of the broadcasters to reach as many people as possible. There are currently a number of systems employed to monitor or count the numbers of people receiving the broadcast. The most notable of the systems is the Nielsen ratings for television, and the Arbitron System for radio. In each system, the monitoring is performed by taking samples of target audiences and using this information to extrapolate a constitution for the audience.
This demographic information is very important to the TV and radio industry. The demographic numbers show how much of a certain segment of the population watch or listen to a particular show. Based on the viewership or istenership of a particular program, rates for advertising products or services during a particular show may be determined. The higher the viewership, especially in particular demographics, the higher the rate the advertisers are willing to pay in order to advertise their products or services.
One of the technologies which may soon be implemented on a large scale is the large scale broadcast of multimedia signals over a data network such as the World Wide Web. Currently, multimedia information such as television and radio shows are broadcast, over the Internet to users who have logged on to a particular website, but because of bandwidth constraints, the quality of the information that is broadcast is not currently good enough to replace the traditional methods of broadcasting. As Internet technology improves, and its quality and ease of use exceed the traditional modes of communications, advertisers may look to this new medium as a way to advertise their goods and services.
The inventors have recognized that with the use of data networks such as the World Wide Web for broadcasting audio and video information, certain systems or methods may be employed to take advantage of this medium for multimedia communications. With the ability to instantly collect information about those system users who have established connection to the network, specialized advertising may be transmitted to particular users during the course of a broadcast.
Described herein is an apparatus and method for scheduling and broadcasting segments of information, such as advertising, as part of a multimedia presentation over a data network. Included in the system is a broadcast device such as a network server which includes the necessary hardware and software in order to access video and audio information and then provide this information to system users with the capabilities to receive such information. The broadcast server may include functionality to broadcast video or audio information received from a remote source to the users who have logged-in, or provide functionality for the users to access and download multimedia information from a designated database.
The broadcast server may include a interface with the data network through which information is transmitted and received. The operations of the server are directed by a processing device which in turn is connected to a data storage device. The data storage device may include a variety of different data sources. One data source may include a schedule of programming to be broadcast. The schedule may include a description of programs to be broadcast, day of broadcast, start and end times, as well as any other relevant information. Another data source may include tables which contain information relating to the commercials which will be broadcast during a particular program, the breaks in which these commercials will be broadcast, the length of the commercials as well as the demographic group to which the commercial is to be broadcast.
Another data source may contain the multimedia files for commercials to be broadcast. Specifically, information may include the location of the data file which contains either the visual or audio information, the related sponsor, as well as the demographic information relating to the target audience. Further tables may contain information relating to the individual sponsors as well as tables which are employed to track the number of viewers for a particular commercial.
In one aspect of the invention a data source may also be provided which includes multimedia files which a system user may download and play. This may be provided as an alternative to broadcasting. These stored files may also be broadcast by the server in a normal broadcast instead of receiving programming from a resource server.
In order to schedule commercials, access may be provided to the server for a remotely located programmer. Upon providing access, a series of display graphics may be provided by the server which a programmer may interact with to view the current programming schedule and then schedule programming and commercials. A first display graphic may be provided which provides a programmer the option to perform a number of functions. Functions which may be provided included viewing the list of programs, adding a program to the schedule, adding a sponsor to the sponsor list, and adding, deleting, or amending commercial which are scheduled for broadcast.
In another aspect of the invention, the scheduling procedures may be performed from a remote location over a data network such as the Internet. A programmer through a personal computer may dial an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and upon establishing a connection, perform the above described functions.
Prior to operation of the broadcast system, the schedule for broadcasting programs may be retrieved from the appropriate data source. Those parties which are to receive the broadcast over a data network may log-in to the broadcast server, thus providing their IP address. Stored in a database may be demographic information relating to the particular viewers who are logged-in. The demographic information may include such things as country of residence, city, state, as well as sex, age, and/or income group. This information may also be requested from the user when access is first granted to the system.
According to the schedule stored in a data source, at the allotted time, the broadcast of a program is begun. Within each program there may be a number of designated commercial breaks, and if the program is live or otherwise allows for it, ad-hoc commercials can be inserted as necessary. Once a commercial break is reached, a table containing the commercials to be broadcast may be accessed and the appropriate data files retrieved from the database. At this point, an analysis may be made of the parties who are currently receiving the broadcast in order to determine to which parties certain commercials may be broadcast. Also included in the designated table may be commercials which will follow the one currently being broadcast in order to fill up the allotted commercial break. Different commercials may be shown simultaneously to viewers of different demographics.
During the broadcast of a particular commercial, the number of viewers viewing a particular commercial may be counted and stored in the database. This information may later be employed to establish the billing rate for particular commercials.
In another aspect of the invention, system users may access the server to upload and view multimedia files. An alternative to the broadcasting of programming, is providing user access to the multimedia files so that they may be downloaded from the server. The viewer information may be reviewed in the same manner as described above. Commercial breaks will be programmed into the multimedia files and when the server detects that a break has occurred, will access the commercials to be broadcast to the user based on the demographic makeup. The commercials are inserted in the download and their viewing may be documented.